Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“No. 3: Goblen Frederick, Golden Colossal Dragon, 29 years old, Level 75”
“No. 4: Horace Frederick, Golden Colossal Dragon, 30 years old, Level 75”
“No. 5: Alex Frederick, Golden Colossal Dragon, 30 years old, Level 75”
“No. 6...”
As Meng Lei skimmed through the ranking, apart from the first and second places, everyone in the top ten places bore the last name of Frederick, and all of them were Golden Colossal Dragons!
It was only at 11th place that a Black Dragon finally appeared. After that, the Golden Colossal Dragons with the Frederick last name started to hog the ranking again.
“Frederick is the last name of the Dragon God Empire’s royalty.” Ol’ Amos explained, “All the Golden Colossal Dragons on the ranking are from the royal family. More than half of the top 100 places, no, the first few hundred places are actually all Golden Colossal Dragons. How incredible!”
Meng Lei stared at the ranking, finding it rather mind-boggling. There were countless geniuses in the massive Dragon God Empire; even with that many people around, were they still unable to match up to a few Golden Colossal Dragons?
“This is a very normal sign.” A smiling Ol’ Amos replied, “As royalty among the Dragons, the talent that the Golden Colossal Dragons possess isn’t something that other races can compare to.
“In the entire Heaven’s Vault Continent, only a few races—such as the Thunder Titans of the Titan Empire, the Golden Behemoths of the Beast People Empire, and the royal Fairies of the Fairy Empire—can compare to them.
“Although there are only very few Golden Colossal Dragons in each generation, every single one of them is amazingly talented. After all, Golden Colossal Dragons are one of the only few races that become Saint Domains the moment they turn of age.”
“They are Saint Domains the moment they turn of age?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly in disbelief before he continued to browse the ranking.
“Ol’ President, you’re actually ranked 689th place?”
“My talent is only average.”
After going through the ranking, Meng Lei now had a rough understanding of the whole ranking—60% of them were Colossal Dragons, 30% of them were Drakes, 9% of them comprised other races, and only 1% of them were humans.
Judging from the ranking alone, the Colossal Dragons had a much stronger gift and talent than humans and the other races. With 60% of the ranking made up of Colossal Dragons and 30% made up of Drakes, it came up to a total of 90%—this wasn’t just any ordinary gap!
“The humans are so tragic. They don’t even make up 1%!”
“That’s for sure! From the start, humans already have the poorest talent. Despite them having the largest population, there is only a scarce number of true geniuses!”
A human contestant sighed emotionally with a shake of his head.
Are humans’ talents really that poor?
Meng Lei had nothing to say to their comments. However, he held a different view inwardly. In terms of talent, while there was admittedly a gap between humans and Colossal Dragons, the root of the issue causing a gap like that wasn’t their talent. Rather, It was their... social statuses!
In the Dragon God Empire, humans were in the bottommost tier of the social hierarchy, leading to a situation where 99% of humans had no chances of cultivating at all. Even if people with amazing talent had emerged, who would have known?
In comparison, despite there being only a scarce number of Colossal Dragons, they still hogged 99% of the cultivation resources available nevertheless. Wasn’t it a matter of course for them to place in the ranking?
If humans were allowed the opportunity to cultivate someday, that so-called Dragon God Genius Ranking would definitely undergo a dramatic change!
Meng Lei held rather complex feelings toward the issue.
Then, he looked at the Dragon God Tower entrance and saw a team of golden-armored sentries guarding the entrance.
Many contestants from the kingdoms and dukedoms were currently gathered at the entrance, each and every one of them all geared up and eager to give the tower a shot.
A golden-armored sentry asked, “Is this the first time all of you are going into the Dragon God Tower?”
“Yes, it is!”
“Since this is your first time going in, I am obligated to inform you of a few things.
“Firstly, it is very dangerous in the Dragon God Tower. A moment of carelessness could lead to death. You must be fully prepared before you go in.
“Secondly, all the magic circles leading to the next levels are located at the areas where magic elements are the richest and densest, and the most powerful native beings usually occupy these places. Therefore, it’s also the most dangerous there. Be sure to act carefully.
“Thirdly, try your best not to move about together—because the bigger the target is, the easier it’ll be to come under the native beings’ siege. Once you’re besieged, it’ll become even more dangerous.”
This was a series of three reminders, yet every one of them was related to the dangers involved. From this, one could see just how treacherous the place was.
However, all the contestants had allowed their enthusiasm to go to their heads at the moment and only wished to enter the Dragon God Tower right away. Who would take the golden-armored sentry’s warnings to heart?
At the sight of this, the golden-armored sentry shook his head lightly and said, “Challenging the Dragon God Tower isn’t child’s play. A moment of carelessness will lead to death. I’ve already said what I should. Whether or not you heed them is none of my business.”
After he spoke, with a wave of his arm, he commanded, “Let them in!”
Whoosh!
Following the entrance’s opening, the contestants swarmed into the tower, unable to wait any further.
“That bunch of crazy, ignorant fools! Are they really going in so rashly? Aren’t they going to prepare at all?”
“Just you watch! They’re going to have a lot to cry about later!”
“Cry? You’ll need to have the opportunity to do even that. They might just stay in there forever without the chance to come out alive for eternity!”
“Exactly! They’ll pay a heavy price for their foolishness and insane arrogance. Is there anyone who doesn’t know that the death toll is the highest during the exchange competitions every time?”
“I wonder how many are gonna croak this time...”
Several Dragon God Academy students watching the show gesticulated at them, their attitudes totally gloating over their misfortune and watching a show.
“Joel, is the Dragon God Tower really that dangerous?” asked a contestant nervously.
“Isn’t that obvious? There is no shortage of geniuses that perish in the Dragon God Tower every year. This is no empty talk!”
Joel went on with a grave look on his face. “All of you’d better be careful when you go in later. Should you sense any danger, retreat at once. No matter what, safety always comes first!”
“I don’t really dare to go in anymore when you put it that way.”
“Exactly. That’s too scary.”
“Actually, there’s no need to be overly afraid, either. With our strength, the first ten levels are still relatively safe.” Joel said with a smile, “Besides, we still have to take part in the exchange competition tomorrow. We’ll just go in and have a casual look around today.”
‘You’re right!”
“We’re just here to broaden our horizons today...”
The few contestants nodded one after another in agreement.
“Lord Meng Lei, let’s go in together.”
“Let’s go!”
Then, they passed through the whirlpool-like magic screen. After the world spun for a while, the environment underwent a radical change at once.
Sand! Sand filled the sky everywhere!
As far as the eye could see, that was all there was—sand!
The sun blazed fiercely in the sky, steam was rising around them everywhere, and the ground was littered with ghastly white skeletons. The place was dry and intensely hot.
Barren and desolate, there was only dead silence everywhere. This was a world flooded by sand!
“So, this is Dragon God Tower’s first level?” Meng Lei commented as he looked around him.
It was as though he was in a vast and boundless desert with no end in sight.
Meng Lei was puzzled—this was a half-plane?
Was there any difference between this and a whole material plane?
“Where are Joel and the others?”
However, what amazed Meng Lei the most was that Joel and the others who had come in together with him were all missing. He was the only one standing here in the boundless sea of sand.
A vortex-like teleportation doorway was behind him. He needed only to pass through the teleportation doorway to leave the Dragon God Tower.
“Could the teleportation be random? Never mind, who cares? Let’s head to the second level and take a look.”
Meng Lei flew into the sky and took in the changes in the magic elements in great detail. Then, he turned into a stream of light flying out.
The earth-elemental magic elements in this half-plane were much richer and denser than the world outside. In addition, they were also constantly changing as his location shifted.
According to the golden-armored sentry, the entrance to the second level was located in the area where the magic elements were the most concentrated.
Therefore, he needed only to head toward the area where the magic elements were the most concentrated, and that would do. Meng Lei didn’t hold much interest in the first few levels as what he wanted was to take a look at the higher levels. Hence, he couldn’t be bothered to waste any time here.
As he sped about at high speed, his movements could only be described with one phrase—as swift as lightning!
Boom, boom, boom!
All of a sudden, the intense sounds of battle rang out ahead of him. Meng Lei lowered his head to take a look, only to see a muscular man with silver horns on his head currently being besieged by a nest of African elephant-sized scorpions.
These scorpions had tough armor on their bodies and were a sandy-yellow throughout. Only their tails standing high and vertically upright presented a bewitching blood-red color. There were about 20 of them.
“The Seventh-Grade Magical Beast, Scarlet-Tailed Scorpions?”
A wind blade shot out with a casual flick of Meng Lei’s fingers, and then it separated into 20 wind blades that sunk accurately into the Scarlet-Tailed Scorpions.
“Ding! 1 Scarlet-Tailed Scorpion killed. 130,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding! 1 Scarlet-Tailed Scorpion killed. 120,000 gold coins gained!”
“Ding...”
In just a mere instant, all 20 Scarlet-Tailed Scorpions had been beheaded. They crashed onto the ground one after another, becoming still and motionless.
(⊙o⊙)
“What’s going on?”
The silver-horned muscular man under siege had an utterly confused look on his face.